Union County Early College marks 20 years of students choosing the path less traveled

On a college campus where teenagers now move between high school and college classes with growing confidence, Union County Early College (UCEC) is preparing to mark a milestone that was never guaranteed: 20 years of students choosing a different path and discovering what it can make possible.

When it opened in 2006, there were no traditions to follow and no established model to replicate.

Fifty-four ninth graders. Three teachers. A small staff. And a shared idea that high school and college could exist together in the same place, at the same time.

Founding principal Victoria McGovern said the goal was to create an environment where students could see college as part of their future earlier than they might have imagined.

“A small group of educators, with a common vision, can inspire hopeful students to achieve lofty goals,” she said.

Today, more than 300 students attend UCEC on the South Piedmont Community College (SPCC) campus, earning a high school diploma while also taking college coursework—many graduating with an associate degree already completed.

But educators say the most important part of the story has never been the numbers. It has been the decision students make when they walk through the door.

“They chose to take the path less traveled,” said Principal Michael Murray, now in his third year leading the school. “But the rewards in the long run will continue to come their way because of this choice.”

“They really want to be here,” he added. “That makes all the difference.”

At UCEC, students take high school classes while also enrolling in college coursework at South Piedmont Community College.

That structure, Murray said, builds independence, confidence and direction earlier than most traditional pathways.

For social studies teacher Melissa Cook and school counselor Jeslyn McFadden, UCEC began before there was a school, with ideas about what it could become.

Cook said the early vision was grounded in the “three R’s—rigor, relevance and relationships,” a framework she believes still defines the school today.

“I think we still have the 3 R’s; we just don’t call it that. It’s embedded now,” she said.

In the months leading up to opening, there was no blueprint, only a possibility.

“We were at an early college conference learning more about what this would look like,” McFadden said. “We hadn’t even signed our contracts yet, but we were already saying, ‘We can do this.’”

“It was a blank slate,” Cook said. “We were trying to build something from the ground up.”

When the school opened, it was an untested model still taking shape. For families, it meant stepping into something not yet proven.

“Those first parents were taking a gamble,” Cook said.

But the students who arrived quickly set the tone for what would follow.

“That first group of students was special,” she said.

When McFadden thinks back to that first year, she remembers uncertainty more than confidence.

“I remember standing outside as buses pulled up thinking, ‘Are kids actually going to get off and come here?’” she said.

They did.

Almost everything that followed had to be built in real time—schedules, routines, academic pathways and daily systems for a school model still new to the region. Even so, a clear identity began to form around the students who chose it.

“Students who value learning, many of whom are first-generation college students and are looking for something different,” McFadden said.

That identity now comes full circle in classrooms like chemistry teacher Jaboa Dahl’s. She attended UCEC from 2007 to 2012 before returning years later to teach.

“It still has the same vibe,” she said. “It’s inviting. Everyone knows everyone.”

As a student, Dahl said the school’s small size and sense of connection drew her in.

“Big buildings and lots of students were terrifying to me,” she said.

Now she works to create that same sense of support for students navigating college-level coursework while still in high school.

“I try to give them resources, so they’re not overwhelmed when they take college chemistry,” she said.

Returning as a teacher, Dahl said she now sees the school’s long-term impact more clearly.

“You see students grow up here,” she said. “And then sometimes they come back.”

Over two decades, the school has undergone significant physical and academic change, including renovations on the South Piedmont campus and evolving college expectations.

“We dealt with construction, walls being torn down, jackhammers going,” Murray said. “But now we’re in a brand-new space, and it really sets this place apart.”

At the same time, the academic model has matured. Originally, most students needed five years to complete the program. Today, McFadden said, most complete it in four.

“In the beginning, it was just about getting an associate degree,” she said. “Now we can map individualized plans based on what students want to study next.”

That evolution comes from constant reflection.

“We look at what worked and what didn’t every year,” she said. “And we adjust,” she said.

One of the most recent adjustments is a wellness center created in response to student feedback and the demands of the school’s rigorous academic environment.

“Students were telling us the stress can be a lot,” McFadden said. “We wanted to make sure they had a space.”

The space is staffed daily by counselors, a social worker, a therapist and an intern, giving students a consistent place for support.

McFadden said this is the first year the center has been in place, and the school is collecting feedback to evaluate its impact over time.

Twenty years after opening its doors, UCEC is no longer new. What began with a handful of staff and a group of ninth graders has become a school defined not by what it was built to be, but by what it continues to become.

At the center of it all is still the same idea that started it—a different path, chosen on purpose.

“I always hear that UCEC is the best-kept secret in Union County,” said Murray. “We don’t want to be a secret anymore.”